• Prizewinner at the XI International Ballet Dancers' and Choreographers'
Competition in the category "Choreographer" (Moscow, 2009).• Recipient of
the Golden Mask, Russia's most prestigious theatre prize, for "Best
Male Role" in the ballet The Seagull (as Trigorin, season 2007-2008).
• Diploma-recipient at the Benois de la danse festival 2008. •
Diploma-recipient of the Golden Sofit, St Petersburg's most prestigious
theatre prize (2008)

Born in Nizhny Tagil. Graduated from the Vaganova Academy of Russian
Ballet in 1998 (class of Yuri Shatalov). From 1998-2009, he was a soloist
with the Boris Eifman St Petersburg State Academic Ballet Theatre, where he
danced the lead roles in ballets including Don Quixote, or Fantasies of a
Madman, Tchaikovsky, The Karamazovs, Red Giselle, Russian Hamlet, Don Juan and
Molière, Who is Who and The Seagull. As a guest artist, he has
appeared in the ballets Spartacus (Spartacus) at the Mikhailovsky
Theatre and Andro-Geny (Zeus) at the Leonid Yakobson Theatre. As a
choreographer, he has staged Autumn Gold – verba volant, scripta
manent (Words Fly away, What Is Written Remains), a project in
memory of Georgy Alexidze, Parting, a choreographic miniature performed
by Yevgenia Obraztsova and Vladimir Shklyarov (MALAKHOV AND FRIENDS).
In the 2003-2004 season, Yuri Smekalov worked as Yevgeny Plushchenko's
choreographer: short programme to the music Nyah, free programme to
Edvin Minton's music Violin Fantasy, to which Plushchenko performed at
Campbell's Figure Skating Classics (New York, USA, 2003), MasterCard Skate
Canada (Mississauga, Canada, 2003), the Trophée Lalique (Paris, France, 2003),
Cup of Russia Gallina Blanca (Moscow, 2003), the International Figure Skating
Challenge (Auburn Hills, USA, 2003), the ISU Grand Prix Final (Colorado Springs,
USA, 2003), the Russian Championships (St Petersburg, 2004), the European
Championships (Budapest, 2004) and the World Championships (Dortmund, 2004).
In the 2008-2009 season, Yuri Smekalov worked as a choreographer with figure
skater Artur Gachinsky (coach – Alexei Mishin) and prepared the
programmes Narcissus and The Hermit. Yuri Smekalov has
been a Mariinsky Theatre soloist since February 2009.